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Preview extra: Royston Vasey on the move
Conrad Astley2/12/2005
PAPA Lazarou, Edward and Tubbs, and Herr Lip were part of a cast
of characters that made Little Britain look like Terry and
June.
The League of Gentlemen brought disturbing horror into British
comedy and put something on TV screens that had never been seen
before or since.
Surprisingly, for a programme about a sinister inbred town in which
the local butcher sells "under the counter" sausages possibly
containing human flesh, German exchange tutors feed schoolboys
coffee laced with Mogadon, and the local shopkeepers keep their
offspring locked in the attic, the show also provided an unexpected
tourist industry for the sleepy village of Hadfield,
Derbyshire.
The town was used as the set for the League's fictitious world of
Royston Vasey.
Fans were drawn to see the real thing, just as the slightly tamer
Last of the Summer Wine brought crowds to Holmfirth.
And shops kept signs which had been made for the show, such as the
Burger Me Fast Food Restaurant.
There were apparently so many complaints about the filming stopping
traffic on the town's main road that a one-way system needed to be
built - echoing a storyline in which locals feared a proposed new
road would bring more of the dreaded outsiders into their
midst.
The show has also made stars of its creators, who now seem to have
promising careers as writers and actors.
Mark Gattis has published a novel, appeared in Woody Allen's Match
Point, and written episodes of this year's Doctor Who series, to
name just a few of his achievements.
But the latest tour sees them return to their roots.
The League started off at the Edinburgh Fringe in the mid 90s, and
won them a Perrier Award, before evolving through Radio 4 and
finally onto TV.
The freak-show made it all the way onto the big screen earlier this
year with The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, in which the
characters realised they were fictitious and try to break out of
the story.
It's anyone's guess whether these hideous creations will ever
return to our TV screens, but the live show - which is returning to
Manchester after receiving rave reviews back in October - may be
one last chance to relive the horror and the laughs they brought
us.
The League of Gentlemen come to Manchester Apollo on
Wednesday.
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